CEO Pain Point Solution Series: Re-engaging Your Employees Dealing with Burnout

Culture Isn’t Soft - It’s Strategic 

In the last post we tackled one of the biggest barriers to effective leadership: CEOs squeezed for time. This week, we are moving outside of the CEO and into the organization itself. We are talking about your people. 

Here is a hard truth every CEO will face: burnout happens and you can’t outperform a fatigued team. Even with the sharpest strategy, an organization is only as good as its employees. If yours are drained, disconnected or just “checking boxes”, it will impact your bottom line. 

According to 2024 Gallup data, just over 30% of employees are engaged in their work, with those actively disengaged at 17%. This costs companies billions in lost productivity, lack of innovation, and turnover. The issue is too many companies only notice after it’s impacted their P&L. 

Pain Point #2: Employee Burn Out 

The Problem: Employees Are Burnt Out and Therefore Disengaged from the Company Mission and Their Work

It’s first important to define "disengagement" and “burnout”. A solely disengaged employee no longer feels motivated to do their work. On the other hand, burnt out employees may want to do their work, but are fatigued by chronic workplace stress or mismanagement. 

The challenge is the problem is often hard to spot. 

• Employees may be completing short-term tasks, but not thinking ahead. 

• Employees are routinely calling out of work. 

• Basic tasks aren’t up to par. 

• Teams may be hitting deadlines, but the work misses the mark or lacks creativity. 

• Your usual high performers may be coasting instead of innovating, or even looking for other jobs. 

As a CEO, it's important to hold your teams accountable through performance measures. But - more importantly - it’s up to you to create and support a culture that prevents burnout in the first place and promotes engagement through clarity, motivation, and inspiration. 

The Solution: Consider The Three-Bucket Leader Method

I developed a concept called The Three Bucket Leader, and it’s the fastest way I know to diagnose and focus how employees spend their time - ensuring time isn’t wasted and burnout is prevented.

It starts with the notion that employees’ work falls into one of three buckets. 

• Bucket One - Activities that energize and fulfill you. The goal should be to get most employees operating in this bucket. 

• Bucket Two - The middle ground. This is when we operate on autopilot without real engagement. 

• Bucket Three - The draining tasks that kill energy and pull us away from more meaningful work. 

Your job as CEO is to: 

• Protect Bucket One Activities - Help employees take ownership regarding how they invest and spend their time and encourage them to focus on Bucket One tasks. 

• Rescue Those Operating in Bucket Two - Find ways to reinvigorate and realign employees simply going through the motions. 

• Decide Quickly on Bucket Three Activities - Move on or scrap these. 

Put It in Practice:

Run a Three-Bucket Audit This Week
Ask your exec team to take a step back and examine how their employees spend their time. Find ways to shift those resources toward bucket one activities. 

Create a “Clarity Conversation” Template
Employees operating in Bucket Two employees often just need direction and encouragement. Start a conversation by asking: 

• “What part of your role feels unclear right now?”

• “What do you need from me to perform at your best?”

• “Where are we wasting your time or talent?”

Build a Recognition Rhythm for Bucket One
Publicly celebrate one high-impact team member this week for more than just output. Highlight initiative, leadership, or creativity.

The Bottom Line:

You don’t solve burnout with perks, pizza parties, or performance plans.

You solve it by leading with clarity, diagnosing with honesty, and taking decisive action on where your team’s efforts should be directed. 

Culture isn’t soft - it’s a strategy and a key marker for how motivated your employees are. It’s up to you as CEO to create a culture in which employees are engaged and invigorated - and that starts with auditing how your team spends their time. 

Get the first chapter of The Three Bucket Leader here.